Contract Magazine - January/February 2018 - 92

INTERIORS AWARDS

Hotel
Simeone Deary Design Group

Client
Aparium Hotel Group

Location
Detroit

inspired by high-end cars, add a touch of nostalgia.
A building as rich in history as Detroit's former
"There's a masculinity to the building and
fire department headquarters presented a special
a timelessness, so the last thing we wanted
challenge to the design team behind the new
to do is pick out trendy furniture," Deary says.
Foundation Hotel. The project-centering around
Deary worked with Matt Eaton, the director
a structure that spans the city's rise and fall, and
and curator of Detroit's Red Bull House of Art and
its exciting current revitalization-is symbolic
residency program, to involve emerging artists. In all,
of a re-energized Detroit. Local architecture firm
50 local painters, sculptors, furniture makers, and
McIntosh Poris Associates orchestrated the
adaptive reuse of the five-story 1929 fire station and textile and glass artisans contributed. For example,
guestrooms feature wall art installations composed
an adjacent 19th century building, and the Chicagoof salvaged building trim and moldings. Graphically
based interior design firm Simeone Deary Design
manipulated photographs of abandoned Detroit
Group oversaw the interiors to create a 100-room
boutique hotel for the Aparium Hotel Group in the
landmarks were transformed into printed
heart of downtown.
wallcoverings in guestrooms.
With the design theme "coming home to
The craftsmanship of the interiors is a
Detroit," the hotel conveys the essence of the Motor
testament to Detroit's ingenuity. As Deary says,
City. The melding of past and present is everywhere, "I've never seen anything like Detroit, the way people
in such original and salvaged elements as interior
collaborate to get a project done. There's a really
glazed-brick tiles and marble cornices. "A lot of history great, unique partnership between the sciences
is built into this hotel, and it is our favorite type
and the arts in Detroit." c
of project," says Gina Deary, co-owner of Simeone
Deary. "It's just so full of opportunity."
One of the original terracotta-faced arched
doorways serves as the hotel's entrance, and
a monumental ground-floor space that once housed
fire engines is now home to the lobby, restaurant,
and bar. Here, a vintage credenza is reconceived
as the reception desk. The restaurant, aptly named
the Apparatus Room, incorporates an open kitchen
and is a welcoming gathering spot for both locals and
guests. The antique brass rails in the restaurant recall
a fireman's pole. Over the bar area, a warm custom
chandelier is a beacon, with 359 exposed-element
LED lamps and 110 pieces of handblown glass hanging
from the ceiling like golden raindrops. Elsewhere in
public areas, dark wood paneling and leather armchairs
set against a backdrop of ceramic tile and marble
create a comfortable, old-fashioned opulence.
In many of the guestrooms, the original
brick and marble, often with the distressed
finish one would expect of century-old material,
is juxtaposed with modern furniture for a familiar
yet contemporary feel. Unexpected accents
in metallic pink and pastel blue, akin to 1960s
automobile colors, punctuate a palette of deep
chocolate brown.
Furniture throughout celebrates an industrial
design aesthetic, offset with luxurious materials.
A channel-tufted velvet sofa and the soft curve
and lacquered finish of the headboards, also
92

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